Chapter 1 Integrating the ecological and economic ... · Chapter 1: Integrating the ecological and...

Chapter 1

Integrating the ecological and economic dimensions in

biodiversity and ecosystem service valuation

Coordinating Lead Author:

Rudolf de Groot

Lead Authors:

Brendan Fisher, Mike Christie

Contributing Authors:

James Aronson, Leon Braat, John Gowdy, Roy Haines-Young, Edward Maltby,

Aude Neuville, Stephen Polasky, Rosimeiry Portela, Irene Ring

Reviewers:

James Blignaut, Eduardo Brondízio, Robert Costanza, Kurt Jax, Gopal K. Kadekodi,

Peter H. May, Jeffrey McNeely, Stanislav Shmelev

Review Editor:

Gopal K. Kadekodi

March 2010

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: The Ecological and Economic Foundations

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Contents

Key messages .......................................................................................................................................... 3

1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 4

2 Review of existing frameworks linking ecology and economics .................................................. 6

2.1 Ecosystem services: early developments and recent frameworks .......................................... 7

2.2 The TEEB Interim report and further recent frameworks ...................................................... 8

2.3 Defining ecosystem functions, services and benefits ........................................................... 10

2.3.1 From biophysical structure and process to ecosystem services and benefits ................... 11

2.3.2 From ecosystem services to (economic) value ................................................................. 13

3 TEEB-conceptual framework....................................................................................................... 15

3.1 Ecosystem structure, processes and functions ...................................................................... 19

3.2 Typology of ecosystem services ........................................................................................... 19

3.3 Human well-being: typology of benefits and values ............................................................ 22

3.3.1 Ecological benefits and values ......................................................................................... 23

3.3.2 Socio-cultural benefits and values .................................................................................... 23

3.3.3 Economic benefits and values .......................................................................................... 23

3.4 Governance and decision making ......................................................................................... 24

3.5 Scenarios and drivers of change ........................................................................................... 26

3.6 Linking ecosystem service values to decision-making: the TEEB guidance reports ........... 27

References ............................................................................................................................................. 30

Appendix 1: Classification of ecosystems used in TEEB .................................................................. 39

Appendix 2: Ecosystem service classification: brief literature survey and TEEB

classification ................................................................................................................................. 40

Chapter 1: Integrating the ecological and economic dimensions in biodiversity and ecosystem service valuation

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Key messages

Linking biophysical aspects of ecosystems with human benefits through the notion of ecosystem

services is essential to assess the trade-offs (ecological, socio-cultural, economic and monetary)

involved in the loss of ecosystems and biodiversity in a clear and consistent manner.

Any ecosystem assessment should be spatially and temporally explicit at scales meaningful for

policy formation or interventions, inherently acknowledging that both ecological functioning and

economic values are context, space and time specific.

Any ecosystem assessment should first aim to determine the service delivery in biophysical terms,

to provide solid ecological underpinning to the economic valuation or measurement with

alternative metrics.

Clearly delineating between functions, services and benefits is important to make ecosystem

assessments more accessible to economic valuation, although no consensus has yet been reached

on the classification.

Ecosystem assessments should be set within the context of contrasting scenarios - recognising that

both the values of ecosystem services and the costs of actions can be best measured as a function

of changes between alternative options.

In assessing trade-offs between alternative uses of ecosystems, the total bundle of ecosystem

services provided by different conversion and management states should be included.

Any valuation study should be fully aware of the „cost‟ side of the equation, as focus on benefits

only ignores important societal costs like missed opportunities of alternative uses; this also allows

for a more extensive range of societal values to be considered.

Ecosystem assessments should integrate an analysis of risks and uncertainties, acknowledging the

limitations of knowledge on the impacts of human actions on ecosystems and their services and

on their importance to human well-being.

In order to improve incentive structures and institutions, the different stakeholders - i.e. the

beneficiaries of ecosystem services, those who are providing the services, those involved in or

affected by the use, and the actors involved at different levels of decision-making - should be

clearly identified, and decision making processes need to be transparent.


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1 Introduction

In spite of the growing awareness of the importance of ecosystems and biodiversity to human welfare,

loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems still continue on a large scale. Fundamental

changes are needed in the way biodiversity, ecosystems and their services are viewed and valued by

society. A major difficulty is that many ecosystemi services

ii are (mixed) public goods, and use levels

are therefore difficult to regulate, even when they are at or near the point of exhaustion. Although

many people benefit from ecosystem services, individuals or groups usually have insufficient

incentives to maintain ecosystems for continued provisioning of services. For example, open access

fisheries provide valuable harvests but often suffer from over-exploitation that leads to declines in fish

populations and lowered future harvests.

The problems of management and governance of ecosystems stem from both poor information and

institutional failures. In some cases, knowledge is lacking about the contribution of ecosystem

processes and biodiversity to human welfare and how human actions lead to environmental change

with impacts on human welfare. In other cases institutions, notably markets, provide the wrong

incentives.

These two types of failures, and the complex dynamics between the ecology-economy interface, often

lead to large scale and persistent degradation of the natural environment and accelerating loss of

ecosystem services and biodiversity. Given the large scale of human activities on the planet, the point

has been reached where the cumulative losses in ecosystem services are forcing society to rethink how

to incorporate the value of these services into societal decision-making.

The release of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA 2005a) helped foster use of the concept of

ecosystem services by policy makers and the business community. However, progress in its practical

application in land use planning and decision making has been slow (e.g., Daily et al. 2009, Naidoo et

al. 2008).

This lack of progress stems not only from failures of markets and systems of economic analysis and

accounting (notably GDP) to capture values of ecosystem services, but also from our limited

understanding of: a) how different services are interlinked with each other and to the various

components of ecosystem functioning and the role of biodiversity; b) how different human actions

that affect ecosystems change the provision of ecosystem services; c) the potential trade-offs among

services; d) the influence of differences in temporal and spatial scales on demand and supply of

services; and e) what kind of governance and institutions are best able to ensure biodiversity

conservation and the sustainable flow of ecosystem services in the long-term.


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Without changes in institutions and incentives, further declines in natural capital are likely, as those

who gain from actions that deplete natural capital will continue to avoid paying the full costs of their

actions and pass these costs to poor societies and future generations (Srinivasan et al. 2008). Although

such estimations are fraught with difficulties, it can be argued that the cumulative loss of „natural

capital‟ (see further) over the past decades has cost, and still costs, the global community large sums

of money in terms of damage, repair and replacement costs (Bartelmus 2009).

One of the aims of the TEEB study is to provide more and better data and understanding of the

(economic) significance of these losses and the consequences of policy inaction on halting

biodiversity loss at various scales (global, regional and local). Although emphasis is on the economic,

notably monetary, effects of the loss of ecosystem services, TEEB will give due attention to the

underlying changes in ecological „values‟ (ecosystem integrity and life-support functions) and socio-

cultural implications.

This TEEB D0 report provides the science basis of the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity,

whereas the other TEEB products (D1-D4) are dedicated to specific audiences, including policy

makers, administrators, business or consumers.

Chapter 1 summarizes recent developments and describes our TEEB framework, building upon the

TEEB Interim report (European Commission, 2008) to further operationalise the economics of

biodiversity and ecosystem services. Each step within the framework roughly coincides with a chapter

in the entire D0 report.

Chapters 2 and 3 explore the ecological basis of the assessment. Chapter 2 presents our current state

of knowledge on the relationships among biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services. It provides

an elaboration of relevant ecological concepts, and highlights the uncertainties and risks associated

with ecosystem change caused by humans at an ever-increasing pace. Once biodiversity is lost and

ecosystems have irreversibly changed, it can be very expensive or no possibilities may remain to

restore these systems and recover associated ecosystem services. Chapter 3 provides a review of

existing biophysical measures and indicators that are used to quantify and map current knowledge on

biodiversity and ecosystem services, including their merits and shortcomings. Research efforts are

needed towards better indicators, especially for measuring changes in biodiversity and the provision

of services to serve as a basis for economic valuation.

Chapters 4 to 6 address the „human well-being‟ component of the framework. Chapter 4 establishes

the basis for a much-needed encompassing understanding of valuation, including ecological,

economic and social values, before it more specifically discusses the social and cultural contexts of

biodiversity and ecosystem service valuation. Chapter 5 then provides a detailed discussion of the

merits, issues and challenges to applying (i) monetary valuation techniques and then (ii) benefits


6

transfer in the context of this assessment. In Chapter 6, some of the ethical issues for economic

valuation are explored, in particular the use and selection of discount rates that have to be critically

reconsidered both with respect to ecological uncertainties and distributional equity.

Chapters 7 to 9 use the framework to make an analysis of the economic implications of the loss of

ecosystem services while taking into account the methodological recommendations developed in

chapters 2 to 6. It should be realized up front that data and methodological limitations remain, and the

TEEB assessments provided are therefore chosen to illustrate the benefits and costs of biodiversity

conservation and sustained ecosystem service provision in different contexts and at different spatial

scales. It is not the intention to make an estimate of the total economic value of ecosystem services at

a global scale. Chapter 7 presents a synthesis of the empirical economic valuation literature in the

form of a matrix of values for the main types of ecosystems and ecosystem services. Based on the

analysis of the previous chapters, ranges of values are selected that are relevant for different

geographic regions and income levels and collected in a database, that is then used in chapters 8 and

9. Chapter 8 makes a preliminary analysis of the costs of action and inaction for several biomes

including terrestrial and marine. This analysis is based on a review of available models and recent

global assessments, on a selection of scenarios, and on combining various methodologies and sources

for the monetary valuation of benefits and costs. Chapter 9 explores the state of knowledge on

assessing the impacts of changes in ecosystem services and comparing the costs of inaction and action

at the macroeconomic scale.

Finally, chapter 10 draws key conclusions and recommendations from the TEEB D0 report.

2 Review of existing frameworks linking ecology and economics

Over the past few decades many attempts have been made to systematically link the functioning of

ecosystems with human wellbeing. Central elements in this “link‟ are the intertwined notions of

natural capital „stocks‟ and the ecosystem services that flow like interest or dividends from those

stocks. According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA 2005a), natural capital is “an

economic metaphor for the limited stocks of physical and biological resources found on earth”. The

continuing depletion and degradation of natural capital has generated concerns and debate over the

capacity of the economic system to substitute for these losses with human-made capital, and the

conditions for sustainable development, defined as non-declining welfare over generations (Pezzey

1992; Pearce et al. 1989). While the degree of substitutability is ultimately an empirical question, it is

generally recognised that substitution has limits (Barbier 1994; Daly 1996; Prugh 1999; Daly and

Farley 2004), and that a critical amount of natural capital has to be preserved (see also chapters 4, 5

and 6 for the implications of this debate for the TEEB study).


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This section provides a brief overview of the development of the theory and practice of ecosystem

functions and services and discusses some key insights and challenges from the literature and the

TEEB Interim Report (2008).

2.1 Ecosystem services: early developments and recent frameworks

Thinking about people-environment interactions and their effects on human welfare stretches back

centuries and includes writings from Roman times on the increase in population and decline in what

we now call ecosystem services (Johnson 2000). Early modern writers on the subject include Marsh

(1874), Leopold (1949), Carson (1962), and Krutilla and Fisher (1975) to mention but a few. In 1977,

Westman published a paper in Science examining the link between ecological and economic systems

entitled “How much are Nature‟s Services Worth?” (Westman 1977). Ehrlich and Ehrlich (1981) later

coined the term „ecosystem services‟ and in the following decade ecologists further elaborated the

notion of ecosystems as life-support systems, providers of ecosystem services and economic benefits

(see for example Ehrlich and Mooney 1983; Odum 1989; Folke et al. 1991; De Groot 1992). But it

was not until the late 1990‟s that the concept got widespread attention with the publications by

Costanza et al. (1997) and Daily (1997). At the same time, the interdisciplinary field of ecological

economics developed the concept of natural capital (Costanza and Daly 1992; Jansson et al. 1994;

Dasgupta et al. 1994), which includes non-renewable resources, renewable resources and ecosystem

services to demonstrate the significance of ecosystems as providing the biophysical foundation for

societal development and all human economies (Common and Perrings 1992; Arrow et al. 1995). In

an attempt to facilitate discussion and systematic analysis of ecosystem services, De Groot et al.

(2002) created a classification system specifying the relationship between, and transitions from

ecosystem processes and components and their transition to goods and services.

Based on these and other studiesiii, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA 2005a) recognized

four categories of services: supporting (e.g. nutrient cycling, soil formation and primary production);

provisioning (e.g. food, fresh water, wood and fiber and fuel); regulating (e.g. climate regulation,

flood and disease regulation and water purification); and cultural (aesthetic, spiritual, educational and

recreational) (see Figure 1).

The introduction of the concept of ecosystem services on the global agenda by the MA provides an

important bridge between the imperatives of maintaining biodiversity and the challenges in meeting to

meet the Millennium Development Goals.


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Figure 1: MA conceptual framework: linking ecosystem services and human well-being

Source: MA (2005a).

2.2 The TEEB Interim report and further recent frameworks

The Millennium Assessment, purposely, did not pay much attention to the economics of ecosystem

change and in the preparation phase of the TEEB study (TEEB 2008), a framework was therefore

proposed (see Figure 2) for articulating the ecological and economic aspects of the analysis necessary

for the valuation of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation (Balmford et al., 2008).

This scheme stresses the need to rely on counterfactual scenarios that differ through specific actions

aimed at addressing the main drivers of loss. Changes in the delivery of services need first to be

estimated and mapped in biophysical terms, which requires a sufficient understanding of the factors

that drive their production and how they are affected by the actions put in place. Economic valuation

should then be applied to the changes in services, which requires a good understanding of the service

flows and of the determinants of demand.

Being spatially explicit is important in order to take into account the spatial heterogeneity of service

flows and of the economic values that can be assigned to them, as well as the variability of

conservation costs. It also allows the identification of mismatches of scales as well as analyzing the

distributional implications of decisions that affect ecosystems, and exploring trade-offs.


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Figure 2: An economic valuation framework: contrasting states of the world

Source: modified after Balmford et al. (2008) and TEEB (2008).

Marginal valuation in economic thinking assumes substitutability between services and is therefore

only applicable within certain ecological limitations, requiring that no irreversible ecosystem changes

occur (see chapters 2 and 4 for more detail). Next to these ecological limitations, socio-cultural

considerations may delimit the range of valid cases for marginal valuation (Turner et al. 2003).

Therefore, any valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services needs to take account of the range of

ecological and socio-cultural values that are not covered by economic valuation, but need different

approaches and methodologies to be reflected in decision making (EPA-SAB 2009).

The TEEB Interim report‟s valuation framework is largely consistent with others recently proposed in

the analysis undertaken by the US National Research Council (NRC 2005), including the Natural

Capital Project (Daily et al. 2009), the EPA Science Advisory Board (EPA-SAB, 2009), Valuing the

Arc (Mwakalila et al. 2009), and the French Council for Strategic Analysis (Chevassus-au-Louis et al.

2009). In all of these efforts, the essential links between human actions, ecosystems, services and their

contributions to human welfare are (see Figure 3, building on Daily et al. 2009). Human decisions

lead to actions that have impacts on ecosystems, causing changes in ecosystem structure and function.

These changes in turn lead to changes in the provision of ecosystem services. Changes in ecosystem

services have impacts on human welfare. A clear understanding of these links can provide information

quantify and map

economic value of

differences in

ecosystem services

policy action

to halt losses

quantify and map

ecosystem service

provision

quantify and map

ecosystem service

provision

quantify and map

differences in

service provision

action

quantify and map

net economic

consequences

of action

quantify and

map costs of

action

POLICY

ECOLOGY

ECONOMY

KEY: quantify and map

economic value of

differences in

ecosystem services

policy action

to halt losses

quantify and map

ecosystem service

provision

quantify and map

ecosystem service

provision

quantify and map

differences in

service provision

action

quantify and map

net economic

consequences

of action

quantify and

map costs of

action

POLICY

ECOLOGY

ECONOMY

KEY:

Drivers of

biodiversity

loss and

ecosystem

degradation

How does it affect

poverty? Equity? Global

GDP? etc

Scenario A

Scenario B

World A: without action

World B: with action


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that can lead to the reform of institutions and better decisions that ultimately improve the state of

ecosystems and the services they provide to society.

Figure 3: Ecosystem Services: research agenda

Source: Daily et al. (2009).

2.3 Defining ecosystem functions, services and benefits

Research efforts regarding the investigation of ecosystem services have increased strongly in the past

ten years (Fisher et al. 2009). They have provided much insight in how to ensure that ecosystem

service research is scientifically robust and credible, and also conveys a clear message to decision-

makers in both the public and private sectors.

In spite of the work done so far, there is still much debate about definitions and classifications (e.g.,

Daily 1997; Boyd and Banzhaf 2007; Wallace 2008; Costanza 2008; Fisher and Turner 2008; Fisher

et al. 2009; Granek et al. 2009) and perhaps we should accept that no final classification can capture

the myriad of ways in which ecosystems support human life and contribute to human well-being. Yet

for a global assessment like TEEB, it is essential to be clear about the terminology and classifications

used. When dealing with complex relationships like coupled social-ecological systems, we need a rich

language to describe their different features and interactions. While accepting that no fundamental

categories or completely unambiguous definitions exist for such complex systems, and that any

systematization is open to debate, it is still important have to be clear about the meaning of the core

terms used.

Decisions

ServicesValue

Incentives Actions

Biophysical

Models

Institutions Ecosystems

Information

Information

Ecosystem services:

research agenda

Economic &

Cultural Models


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Figure 4 gives a schematic representation of the way TEEB proposes to disentangle the pathway from

ecosystems and biodiversity to human wellbeing. A central concept in this diagram is the notion of

(ecosystem) service which the MA defined simply as “the benefits humans derive from nature” (MA

2005a).

Figure 4: The pathway from ecosystem structure and processes to human well-being

2.3.1 From biophysical structure and process to ecosystem services and benefits

As Figure 4 shows, a lot goes on before services and benefits are provided, and decision-makers need

to understand what this involves. It is therefore helpful to distinguish „functions‟ from the even deeper

ecological structures and processes in the sense that the functions represent the potential that

ecosystems have to deliver a service which in turn depends on ecological structure and processes. For

example, primary production (= process) is needed to maintain a viable fish population (= function)

which can be used (harvested) to provide food (= service); nutrient cycling (=process) is needed for

water purification (=function) to provide clean water (= provisioning service)iv. The benefits of these

services are manifold, for example, food provides nutrition but also pleasure and sometimes even

social identity (as part of cultural traditions); clean water can be used for drinking but also for

swimming (pleasure) and other activities aimed at satisfying needs and wants. Thus, the role of

woodlands in slowing the passage of water through a catchment is a function which has the potential

Institutions & human Judgments determining

(the use of) services

Ecosystems & Biodiversity

*) subset of biophysical structure or process providing the service

Service

Management/ Restoration

( eg . flood - protection, products

Feedback between

value perception and use of eco - system services

Function*

( eg . slow water passage, biomass)

( eg . vegetation cover or Net Primary Productivity

Biophysical Structure or process

(contribution to health, safety, etc)

Benefit(s )

Human wellbeing

(socio - cultural context)

(econ) Value

( eg . WTP for protection

or products)

1)

Adapted from Haines - Young & Potschin , 2010 and Maltby (ed.), 2009


12

of delivering a service (water flow regulation -> reduced flood risk) if some beneficiary exists to

enjoy the benefit (safety).

Services are actually conceptualizations („labels‟) of the “useful things” ecosystems “do” for people,

directly and indirectly (see Glossary for the exact definition used in TEEB) whereby it should be

realized that properties of ecological systems that people regard as „useful‟ may change over time

even if the ecological system itself remains in a relatively constant state.

Clearly delineating between ecological phenomena (functions), their direct and indirect contribution

to human welfare (services), and the welfare gains they generate (benefits) is useful in avoiding the

problem of double counting that may arise due to the fact that some services (in particular supporting

and regulating services) are inputs to the production of others (Boyd and Banzhaf 2007; Wallace

2008; Fisher and Turner 2008; Balmford et al. 2008). Such differentiation is also crucial to provide a

clear understanding of the spatial distribution of where the function occurs, where the provision of the

service can be assessed, and ultimately where the benefits are appreciated. Although the distinction

between functions, services and benefits is important, especially for economic valuation, it often is not

possible to make a fully consistent classification, especially for regulating services (see section 3 for

further discussion).

The short conclusion is that studies on ecosystem services should always be transparent on just what

are considered services, and how they are being valued and measured. A critical missing link for some

ecosystem services is the scant knowledge on how they are produced, maintained, and affected by

system or abiotic changes and how they are related to levels of biodiversity. Information gaps will be

rife throughout ecosystem service research and should always acknowledge the current uncertainty

about how the „system‟ works. It should also be realized that many people benefit from ecosystem

services without realizing it, and thus fail to appreciate their value (importance). To make the

dependence of human wellbeing on ecosystem services more clear, valuation studies should therefore

not only include direct benefits (direct use values) but take due account of all the indirect benefits

(indirect use values) and non-use values derived from ecosystem services.

Another issue is how to deal with potential benefits or the “likelihood of (future) use”, e.g. currently

functions like wildlife (as potential food source), water purification (keeping rivers clean) or attractive

scenery in a remote area may not be used but may have great (economic) potential for future use.

Finally, it should also be recognized that ecosystems may provide disservices, for example, when they

facilitate reproduction and dispersal of species that damage crops or human healthv. In trade-off

analysis, these disservices must be considered and, ultimately, the notion of benefits and „dis-benefits‟

should be looked at within a consistent ecosystem accounting framework (e.g. EEA 2009).


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2.3.2 From ecosystem services to (economic) value

Since the functioning of ecosystems and their services affect so many aspects of human welfare, a

broad set of indicators can and should be used to measure the magnitude („value‟) of their impact. As

with the interpretation of the terms „function‟, „service‟ and „benefits‟ (see above), much debate still

surrounds the use of the term „value‟ in assessing the benefits of ecosystems to human wellbeing. The

Oxford English Dictionary defines value as “the worth, usefulness, importance of something”. The

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment defined value as “the contribution of an action or object to user-

specified goals, objectives, or conditions” (after Farber et al. 2002), the measurement of which could

include any kind of metric from the various scientific disciplines, e.g. ecology, sociology, economics

(MA 2003).

In economics, „value‟ is always associated with trade-offs, i.e. something only has (economic) value if

we are willing to give up something to get or enjoy it. The common metric in economics is monetary

valuation and some critics say the reliance on this metric has plagued many ecosystem service

assessments, failing to incorporate several types of value which are critical to understanding the

relationship between society and nature (e.g. Norgaard 1998; Wilson and Howarth 2002; MA 2005a;

Christie et al. 2006). See also Box 1 and chapter 4 for further discussion.

In addition to economic valuation, other ways to analyze the importance of ecosystem services

include livelihoods assessments, capabilities approaches that emphasize the opportunities available to

people to make choices (e.g., Sen 1993), and vulnerability assessments. Such considerations are

necessary for integrating into the analysis some dimensions of human well-being that cannot (or

should not) be measured in terms of money, such as freedom of choice, human rights and intrinsic

values. They are also important for measuring the services and benefits that are of cultural and

philosophical (spiritual) nature. However, while monetary assessments only partially capture the total

importance – i.e. value – of ecosystem services, they are vitally important for internalizing so-called

externalities in economic accounting procedures and in policies that affect ecosystems, thereby

influencing decision-making at all levels.


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Box 1 Neoclassical Economics and its Discontents (by John Gowdy)

There is a long history of antagonism between traditional neoclassical economists and those advocating a more

pluralistic approach to economic theory and policy. The debate has been less fruitful than it might have been

because of the failure of many on both sides to be specific as to what is being criticized and defended.

Those of us who are critical of standard economic valuation methods need to be precise in what we are

criticizing. The current debates raging in economics over the Stern Review, the current financial crisis, and the

significance of the findings of behavioral economics, have shown that the problem with neoclassical economics

is not valuation per se but with the assumptions of the core Walrasian model (named after the Swiss economist

Leon Walras). The purpose of that model is to prove that competitive markets achieve Pareto efficiency, that is,

no one can be made better off without making someone else worse off. This is called the First Fundamental

Theorem of Welfare Economics. That proof does not work unless economic agents (firms and consumers) act

independently of each other. That is, my economic decisions are based on self-regarding preferences and my

decisions are in no way affected by how others think, behave or how much they have. Likewise, the production

and pricing decisions of one firm are independent of the actions of other firms. The independence assumption

has been falsified by thousands of empirical tests. It does not make good predictions of real economic behavior

and offers a poor guide for economic policy. We need to replace “rational economic man” with a science-based

model of human behavior, and the model of the perfectly competitive firm with one that includes competitive

institutions, cultural norms, and biophysical transformations. The characterization of consumers and firms in the

Walrasian model is driven by the mathematical requirements of constrained optimization and has little to do

with real-world economic behavior.

But this doesn‟t mean that markets are always inefficient or that prices have no meaning. It simply means that

economic policy debates need to be decided on the basis of merit and evidence, not arbitrary equations or lines

on a piece of paper. The effect of minimum wage laws is a good example. It‟s easy to “prove” that they raise the

unemployment rate by drawing a simple graph. But the real world evidence is much more complicated.

Economists frequently use a kind of “bait and switch” technique to justify their models. We begin with the

proposition that “people do the best they can with the limited means at their disposal” which is reasonable. But

in the Walrasian framework this becomes “People with well-defined, stable and self-regarding preferences

maximize a smooth and continuous single-valued function that is twice differentiable… and so on.” Using the

mathematical relationships in this model we can calculate shadow prices for natural resources, elasticities of

substitution, total factor productivity etc. But it is not clear whether these estimates are based on empirical

evidence or by the mathematical assumptions used to calculate them.

Regarding discounting future costs and benefits, we can reasonably say that individuals in general would rather

have something now than in the distant future (but not always). But that is not the same as using a single precise

discount rate number to value everything from biodiversity loss to the effects of climate change decades or even

centuries in the future.

If we discard the straightjacket of Walrasian mathematics we can begin to sort out what can be priced, what can

be measured without prices, and what cannot be measured at all but still valued.


15

3 TEEB-conceptual framework

Following the considerations discussed in section 2, and building upon the work done in the TEEB

preparation phase, this section presents the Framework adopted for the TEEB study which also forms

the “backbone” for the subsequent chapters in this report (Figure 5).

Figure 5 Conceptual framework for linking ecosystems and human well-being

To analyse the “Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity” a practical and consistent definition and

typology of ecosystems (and biodiversity) is essential. In the TEEB assessment, we largely follow the

definitions of the United Nations‟ 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity. Thus we see an

ecosystem as the complex of living organisms and the abiotic environment with which they interact at

a specified location. Biodiversity is the sum total of organisms including their genetic diversity and

the way in which they fit together into communities and ecosystems (see Glossary for exact wording).

Based on various sources, TEEB proposes a typology of 12 main biomes (see Table 2), sub-divided

into a much larger number of ecosystem types (see Appendix 1).

Ecosystems & Biodiversity (1 Human well - being (1

BENEFITS & VALUES

Ecological (sustainability)

Social (wellbeing)

Economic (welfare)

Ecological structures & processes

(photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, food - chain dynamics, etc.)

Functions (2

Production - biomass Regulation - water regulat . Habitat - requirements Information - landscape

External Drivers ( eg Climate

change

2) subset of ecosystem processes & components that is directly involved in providing the service

Provisioning

- Food

Regulating

- Flood prev.

Cultural

- Recreation

Services

Indicators

Biophysical ( eg . resilience)

Socio - cultural ( eg . human wellbeing indices)

Economic ( eg . prices, GDP)

Indirect drivers (1 : Demography, Technology, Economy, etc

Habitat

- Nursery

Governance and Decision making

1) The four bold - lined boxes coincide with the overall MA- Framework

Aggregation of values for decision support: - Trade - off analysis

(incl. CBA, MCDA) - Accounting Systems

( eg SEEA)

Direct drivers (1

• Land - use ( change ) • Habitat destruction • Pollution & disturb . • Resource use , etc

Addressing needs of different actors

TEEB - reports : • ( Inter)national policy

makers • Local policy makers / administrators

• Producers/Businesses • Consumers/Citizens


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Table 2: Classification of main biomes in TEEB and remaining surface area

Biome type (a Surface area remaining (in 1000 km2) (f Of which in more

or less natural

state (c

MODIS LC

2005 (b

Global Cover

2005 (b

Land Cover

in 2000 (c

1 Marine / Open Ocean 416,546 10-15 % (g

2 Coastal systems 40 % (h

3 Wetlands 1,799 ? % (i

4 Lakes & Rivers 6,713 ? % (i

5 Forests 28,936 46,652

Wooded tundra 2,596 93 %

Boreal forest 17,611 85 %

Cool coniferous forest 3,130 72 %

Temperate mixed forest 5,914 49 %

Temp. deciduous forest 4,718 43 %

Warm mixed forest 5,835 52 %

Tropical forest 9,149 76 %

6 Woodland & shrubland 35,829 9,766 7,870

8,773

67 %

44 %

Mediterranean shrub (e 1,741 38 %

7 Grass & Rangeland (d 23,883 8,879 19,056 50 %

Savanna only (e 15,604 57 %

8 Desert 18,154 34,753 22,174 83 %

9 Tundra 6,453 6,375 94 %

10 Ice/Rock/Polar 15,930 3,166 2,290 100 %

11 Cultivated areas 20,617 26,472 Not applicable

12 Urban areas 656 336 Not applicable

a) This classification is based on various sources (see Appendix 1, which also gives a more detailed list of

ecosystems for each biome). The forest, woodland and grassland biomes are sub-divided here to

accommodate data on the degree of human impact (last column) and this sub-division is therefore not

completely identical with Appendix 1.

b) Data on surface area provided by Rosimeiry Portela, with help from Marc Steininger and Fabiano Godoy,

all Conservation International.

c) Data provided by Leon Braat, based on work done by PBL/NEEA (Netherlands Environmental Assessment

Agency) for COPI-I on terrestrial systems only (Braat et al., 2008). According to this source, the world total

terrestrial area is 132,836,113 km2 .

d) Including Steppe in PBL/NEEA data set (Braat et al. 2008).

e) These categories (Mediterranean shrub and savanna) are listed separately in the RIVM data set; their

surface area is not included in sum-total for the respective main biome categories.

f) Data on surface areas differ substantially by source due to different interpretations of biome (land cover)

classes.


17

g) Data on aquatic systems is more difficult to find and interpret than for terrestrial systems, but Halpern et al.

(2008) estimated that at least 40% of ocean systems are medium - very highly affected by human impact

and the other 60% face low – medium impact. Only 10-15% can be considered to be in a more or less

pristine state (Halpern personal communication, August 2009).

h) For coastal systems the figures are even harder to estimate, but according to Halpern et al. (2009), 60 % of

the global coastline experience low to high impact from land-based human activities. This estimate was

based on four of the most pervasive land-based impacts on coastal ecosystems: nutrient input; organic and

inorganic pollution; and the direct impact of coastal human populations. If we add ocean-based human

impact (i.e. over-fishing, pollution from ships, etc.) this figure will surely be much higher: a map published

by UNEP (2006) shows that only about 40% of the coasts face “little or no” impact from human actions.

i) For wetlands, rivers and lakes, no reliable (global) data were found in this phase of the TEEB study but it

will be attempted to further verify and complete this table in the coming months.

As Table 1 indicates, most of the biomes and associated ecosystems have been converted to human-

dominated systems (agriculture, aquaculture, plantations, etc.) to a greater or lesser extent (on average

approximately 1/3 of the area) or are otherwise affected by human activity, e.g. through over-

exploitation and pollution of marine systems (Nelleman et al. 2008) and damming of rivers. Thus,

„biomes‟ or other ecology-based land categories have actually become a “construct” (e.g., Ellis 2008,

Kareiva et al. 2007). Because of the predominance of so-called „socio-ecological mosaics‟ (i.e. a

patchwork of landscape units that range from intensively managed to unmanaged areas, all within the

same landscape), fine-grained spatial analysis should be a core of any Ecosystem Service assessment

(see Box 2).

Box 2.: Spatial explicitness and scale

A major critique of early ecosystem service valuation work was the rudimentary treatment of ecological systems

at the scale of biomes, and the extrapolation of site specific values across the entire globe (Bockstael et al. 2000;

Naidoo et al. 2008). At the other end of the spectrum, the utility of plot-scale experiments for policy formation

is questionable. Recognizing this trade-off, advanced research in ecosystem services has focused on spatially-

explicit economic and ecological models, moving away from standard lookup tables assuming constant marginal

values and utilizing benefit transfer based on ecosystem type (Barbier et al. 2008; Nelson et al. 2009; Naidoo

and Ricketts 2006; Polasky et al. 2008; Bateman et al. 2003).

Working at both ecologically understandable and policy relevant scales also allows researchers to more fully

understand the values and perceptions of the relevant stakeholders (Hein et al. 2006; Fisher et al. 2008; Granek

et al. 2009). Another major reason why spatial explicitness is important is that the production and use of

services from ecosystems vary spatially, as along with the economic benefits they generate (many of which are

local in nature), and of course the costs of action, so it matters to human well-being where conservation actions

are implemented. A spatially explicit assessment of the impacts of action and quantification of benefits and costs

is also helpful to show the possible mismatch between the ecological and the socio-economic scales of decision

making, service provision and use, and between winners and losers in different scenarios. It is thus essential for

designing effective and equitable policy interventions. (Balmford et al. 2008).


18

In trade-off analysis of land use change, ideally the costs and benefits of the transitions, and all or at

least the main intermediate states (see Figure 6), should be based on the economic value of the total

bundle of services provided by each transition or management state. This level of detail is impossible

within this phase of the TEEB assessment, both for time limitations and given the paucity of studies

that compare the provision of services by an ecosystem under alternative management states

(Balmford et al. 2002; ICSU-UNESCO-UNU 2008), but it should be a high priority subject for

follow-up studies.

Figure 6 Two examples of degradation pathways showing transition phases between

natural and human-dominated (eco)systems

Source: Braat et al. (2008).

The recognition of tangible ecological or physical boundaries of ecosystems, however arbitrary it

may sometimes be, provides an important basis for adaptive and practical management through the

mapping of particular functions and landscape units, or even so-called „service-providing units‟ (see

chapter 2).

Pristine

forest

Degraded

land

Extensive use

Plantation

Original

species

s

Fossil fuel

subsidized

Extensive use

Intensive use


19

3.1 Ecosystem structure, processes and functions

The TEEB framework (Figure 5) starts with the upper-left hand box which distinguishes ecosystem

structure, processes and functions. Ecosystem functions are defined as a subset of the interactions

between ecosystem structure and processes that underpin the capacity of an ecosystem to provide

goods and services. The building blocks of ecosystem functions are the interactions between structure

and processes, which may be physical (e.g. infiltration of water, sediment movement), chemical (e.g.

reduction, oxidation) or biological (e.g. photosynthesis and denitrification), whereby „biodiversity‟ is

more or less involved in all of them, although the precise detail of the relationship is often unclear or

limited (see chapter 2).

The fundamental challenge is the extent to which it is practical (possible?) to fully predict the actual

functioning of any defined ecosystem unit when relatively few (and rarely replicated) studies

worldwide are available. It is often necessary to rely on various combinations of seemingly-

appropriate indicators of ecosystem condition and function (see chapter 3) which can in theory be

applied more generally than in just individual cases.

3.2 Typology of ecosystem services

Ecosystem services are defined in TEEB as “the direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems to

human well-being.” This basically follows the MA-definition except that it makes a finer distinction

between services and benefits and explicitly acknowledges that services can benefit people in multiple

and indirect ways (see section 3 for a more detailed discussion).

Based on the TEEB preparatory phase and other assessments and meta-analysis (see section 2), TEEB

proposes a typology of 22 ecosystem services divided in 4 main categories; provisioning, regulating,

habitat and cultural & amenity services, mainly following the MA classification (see Table 3 and

Appendix 2 for a more detailed list and comparison with the main literature).

An important difference we adopt here, as compared to the MA, is the omission of Supporting

Services such as nutrient cycling and food-chain dynamics, which are seen in TEEB as a subset of

ecological processes. Instead, the Habitat Service has been identified as a separate category to

highlight the importance of ecosystems to provide habitat for migratory species (e.g. as nurseries) and

gene-pool “protectors” (e.g. natural habitats allowing natural selection processes to maintain the

vitality of the gene pool). The availability of these services is directly dependent on the state of the

habitat (habitat requirements) providing the service. In case commercial species are involved, such as

fish and shrimp species that spawn in mangrove systems (= nursery service) but of which the adults

are caught far away, this service has an economic (monetary) value in its own right. Also the

importance of the gene-pool protection service of ecosystems is increasingly recognized, both as “hot

spots” for conservation (in which money is increasingly invested) and to maintain the original gene-


20

pool of commercial species (which we are increasingly being imitated through the creation of botanic

gardens, zoos and gene banks).

Before economic valuation can be applied, the performance or availability of ecosystem services has

to be measured in biophysical terms (see Chapters 2 and 3). In some cases the state of ecological

knowledge and the data availability allow using some direct measures of services, while in other cases

it is necessary to make use of proxies.


21

Table 3 Typology of ecosystem services in TEEB

Main service types

PROVISIONING SERVICES

1 Food (e.g. fish, game, fruit)

2 Water (e.g. for drinking, irrigation, cooling)

3 Raw Materials (e.g. fiber, timber, fuel wood, fodder, fertilizer)

4 Genetic resources (e.g. for crop-improvement and medicinal purposes)

5 Medicinal resources (e.g. biochemical products, models & test-organisms)

6 Ornamental resources (e.g. artisan work, décorative plants, pet animals, fashion)

REGULATING SERVICES

7 Air quality regulation (e.g. capturing (fine)dust, chemicals, etc)

8 Climate regulation (incl. C-sequestration, influence of vegetation on rainfall, etc.)

9 Moderation of extreme events (eg. storm protection and flood prevention)

10 Regulation of water flows (e.g. natural drainage, irrigation and drought prevention)

11 Waste treatment (especially water purification)

12 Erosion prevention

13 Maintenance of soil fertility (incl. soil formation)

14 Pollination

15 Biological control (e.g. seed dispersal, pest and disease control)

HABITAT SERVICES

16 Maintenance of life cycles of migratory species (incl. nursery service)

17 Maintenance of genetic diversity (especially in gene pool protection)

CULTURAL & AMENITY SERVICES

18 Aesthetic information

19 Opportunities for recreation & tourism

20 Inspiration for culture, art and design

21 Spiritual experience

22 Information for cognitive development

Source: based on/adapted (mainly) from Costanza et al. (1997), De Groot et al. (2002), MA (2005a), Daily,

Ehrlich, Mooney, et al. (2008). See Appendix 2 for details.

Actual measurements of ecosystem services should be split into a) the capacity of an ecosystem to

provide a service (e.g., how much fish can a lake provide on a sustainable basis), and b) the actual use

of that service (e.g., fish harvesting for food or for use in industrial processing). Measurement of the

importance (value) of that fish in terms of nutrition value, a source of income and/or way of life is

then part of the “human value domain”.


22

When applying valuation, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between potential and actual use of

services with direct use value (notably provisioning and some cultural services), and services that

have indirect use (notably regulating, habitat and some services). Since most ecosystems provide a

bundle of services, and the use of one service often affects the availability of other services,

(economic) valuation should consider not only (marginal) values from the flows of individual services

but also take due account of the “stock value” (i.e. the entire ecosystem) providing the total bundle of

services.vi When applying economic valuation the actual management regime of the ecosystem (which

is determined by the institutional arrangements) should be taken into account. This regime will

influence the expected value of future flows of services, which will differ depending on whether it

leads to sustainable or unsustainable uses (Mäler 2008).

3.3 Human well-being: typology of benefits and values

Following the MA approach, the TEEB framework (Figure 5) makes a distinction between ecological,

socio-cultural and economic benefits and values. The reason for separating benefits and values is

because people have needs which, when fulfilled, are translated into (more or less objectively

measurable) benefits. For example, catching fish from the ocean gives us food (health), but also

cultural identity (as a fisherman/-woman) and income. How we value these benefits is subjective:

some people will value the income much higher than their cultural identity (social ties etc) and may be

willing to give up one aspect of their wellbeing (cultural identity) over another (e.g. material wealth).

Thus, different values can be attached to a particular benefit.

Although the TEEB study focuses primarily on the measurement of economic values and the

assessment of costs and benefits in a welfare economics approach, it includes equity considerations in

particular for the aggregation of benefits over time and over groups of people. It specifically analyses

the relationships between ecosystems and poverty („GDP of the poor‟), because of the higher

dependence of the poor on ecosystem services for their livelihood (TEEB 2008).

Of course, it should also be acknowledged that many native communities („ecosystem people‟) still

entirely, and directly, depend on ecosystems and their services for their survival, as well as the

importance of ecosystems for providing people with the ability to choose certain ways of life that they

may value.

The three main types of benefits (well-being aspects) and related values and valuation metrics are

briefly introduced below (for more detailed information, see chapter 3 (biophysical indicators – linked

to ecological “values”), chapter 4 (socio-cultural values) and chapter 5 (economic values).


23

3.3.1 Ecological benefits and values

The ecological importance (value) of ecosystems has been articulated by natural scientists in reference

to the causal relationships between parts of a system such as, for example, the value of a particular

tree species to control erosion, or the value of one species to the survival of another species or of an

entire ecosystem (Farber et al. 2002). At a global scale, different ecosystems and their constituent

species play different roles in the maintenance of essential life-support processes (such as energy

conversion, biogeochemical cycling, and evolution) (MA 2003).

Ecological measures of value (importance) are, for example, integrity, „health‟, or resilience, which

are important indicators to determine critical thresholds and minimum requirements for ecosystem

service provision. These measures of value should be distinguished from what can be included in

economic values because although they contribute to welfare, they cannot readily be taken into

account in the expression of individual preferences, as they are too indirect and complex, albeit they

may be critical for human survival. The related value paradigm could be formulated as the importance

people attach to a healthy, ecologically stable environment, both as a contribution to human survival

(instrumental value) and for intrinsic reasons (values). Although the notion of ecological value is still

much debated, the „value‟ of natural ecosystems and their components should be recognized in terms

of their contribution to maintaining life on earth, including human survival in its own right (Farber et

al. 2002).

3.3.2 Socio-cultural benefits and values

For many people, biodiversity and natural ecosystems are a crucial source of non-material well-being

through their influence on mental health and their, historical, national, ethical, religious, and spiritual

values. While conceptual and methodological developments in economic valuation have aimed at

covering a broad range of values, including intangible ones (see the concept of Total Economic Value

below), it can be argued that socio-cultural values cannot be fully captured by economic valuation

techniques (cf. chapters 4 and 5) and have to be complemented by other approaches in order to inform

decision-making. This is notably the case where some ecosystem services are considered essential to a

people‟s very identity and existence. To obtain at least a minimum (baseline) measure of importance

of socio-cultural benefits and values several metrics have been developed such as the Human

Wellbeing Index.

3.3.3 Economic benefits and values

Biodiversity and ecosystem services are important to humans for many reasons. In economic terms,

this can be considered as contributing to different elements of „Total Economic Value‟, which

comprises both use values (including direct use such as resource use, recreation, and indirect use from

regulating services) and non-use values, e.g. the value people place on protecting nature for future use

(option values) or for ethical reasons (bequest and existence values). The economic importance of

most of these values can be measured in monetary terms, with varying degrees of accuracy, using


24

various techniques (including market pricing, shadow pricing and questionnaire based). Chapter 5

gives a detailed overview of economic values and monetary valuation techniques.

3.4 Governance and decision making

In making decisions at any level (private, corporate or government), decision-makers are faced with

the dilemma of how to balance (weigh) ecological, socio-cultural and economic values. Preferably,

the importance of each of these value-components should be weighted on its own (qualitative and

quantitative) dimension, e.g. through Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis. However, since TEEB is

focusing on the economic, notably monetary, consequences of the loss of biodiversity, concentrates

TEEB on aggregation (1) and economic trade-off issues (2). To make the link with standard

macroeconomic indicators, the role of ecosystem services in environmental-economic accounting (3)

should also be mentioned as a promising field of analysis to inform economic decisions (EEA 2009).

Finally, awareness raising and positive incentives (4) are essential tools for better decision-making.

(1) Aggregating monetary values

Aggregation involves bringing together all the information on the monetary values of ecosystem

services by ecosystem type into a single matrix to attain an aggregate monetary value of all delivered

ecosystem services. This is the task of Chapter 7. Effective aggregation is challenging. Key issues

requiring consideration include:

Accounting for uncertainties in the monetary valuation of individual services, including possible

biases due to the use of different valuation methods (see chapter 5 for discussion).

Interdependencies between ecosystem services at the ecosystem scale, including issues of double

counting, competing services, bundled services, etc.

Aggregation of values over individuals and groups of people. The relative importance of

ecosystem services will vary between different groups of people, e.g., regarding income level or

dependence on ecosystem services. To integrate such considerations some adjustments can be

applied such as equity weightings (Anthoff et al. 2009).

Aggregation of values over spatial scales. Different ecosystem services may be best considered at

different spatial scales. For example, water regulation is best considered at a watershed scale,

while carbon sequestration can be considered on a national or global scale. Aggregation should

take these differences into account.

Aggregation of values over time: Protecting biodiversity today may have costs and benefits to

future generations. In economics, discounting is a common practice to compare these future costs

and benefits with current values. An important issue is the selection of the most appropriate

discount rate in different decision-making contexts. Chapter 6 will further explore these issues.


25

(2) Trade-off analysis

A trade-off occurs when the extraction of an ecosystem service has a negative impact on the provision

of other services. For example, timber extraction from a forest will affect, among others, vegetation

structure and composition, visual quality and water quality which will preclude or at least affect the

continuous provision of other services (e.g. wildlife harvesting, carbon sequestration, recreation) over

time, since loss of structure implies loss of function, and consequently of other services and their

derived benefits. Approaches to trade-off analysis include: multi-criteria (decision) analysis, cost-

benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis.

The foundational strength of Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) is finding the „net‟ benefit of an activity.

Since the costs and benefits of an activity (or scenario) have different functional relationship in

different circumstances – utilizing a „benefits only‟ approach could greatly mislead decision-making

(Naidoo et al. 2006). This benefits-only approach was common in early ecosystem service

assessments (Balmford et al. 2002). A notable early exception is research on the fynbos in South

Africa, where researchers enumerated the benefits and costs of both an invasive species eradication

campaign and a do-nothing approach (Van Wilgen et al. 1996). An understanding of costs is also

crucial in ecosystem service research since the complexity of benefit delivery might preclude a full

understanding of service delivery. In these cases a cost-effectiveness approach can be highly

informative especially where the costs vary more than the benefits (Ando et al. 1998; Balmford et al.

2003; Naidoo et al. 2006, EEA 2009).

(3) Systems of Ecological–Economic Accounting: macro-economic implications

A growing number of governments recognize the need to include ecosystem services in economic

accounts in order to ensure that their contribution to well-being is recorded in the macroeconomic

indicators that are the most widely acknowledged and used in policy making. If ecosystems are

regarded as assets that provide services to people, then accounts can be used to describe the way they

change over time in terms of stocks and flows. These changes can be described both in physical terms,

using various indicators of ecosystem quantity and quality, and ultimately in monetary values (EEA,

2009). Ecosystem accounting, linked to geographical information systems and to socio-economic

data, can thus offer a useful framework for systematically collecting and analyzing data to support

assessments of changes in the production and use of ecosystem services, taking into account their

spatial heterogeneity.

Several relevant initiatives are currently under way. For example, the European Environment Agency

is developing a framework for land and ecosystem accounts for Europe, building on land cover data

and following the System of Environmental and Economic Accounts (SEEA) guidelines of the United

Nations.


26

The development of ecosystem accounting will have to be gradual, integrating progressively more

ecosystem services, and build on existing information in different countries. This is addressed in more

detail in the TEEB report for national and international policy makers (TEEB 2009). An analysis of

how the value of some ecosystem services can be recorded at macroeconomic level for some

economic sectors is presented in chapter 9 of this report.

(4) Awareness raising and positive incentives

Of special importance in the TEEB context are the numerous decisions by producers and consumers

affecting ecosystems (TEEB reports for business and citizens), and the policy changes necessary to

ensure that decisions taken at various governmental levels (TEEB 2009 and TEEB for administrators),

do not lead to greater degradation of ecosystems and even improve their condition (see section 3.6).

An important step towards the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem

services lies in accounting for the positive and negative externalities associated with human activities.

Rewarding the benefits of conservation through payments for environmental services (e.g., Landell-

Mills and Porras 2002; Wunder 2005) or ecological fiscal transfers (Ring 2008) is as important as the

realignment of perverse subsidies that all too often incentivize unsustainable behaviors (TEEB 2009,

chapters 5 and 6).

A growing societal awareness of the need for research and development, and for changes in policy,

practice and law, can help us pursue sustainable ecosystem management and resource use, and engage

in eco-regional planning and large-scale restoration and rehabilitation of renewable and cultivated

natural capital (Aronson et al. 2007).

3.5 Scenarios and drivers of change

Efforts aimed at changing behavior towards, and impact on ecosystems and biodiversity must take

into account that ecosystems have always been dynamic, both internally and in response to changing

environments.

The importance of using scenarios in ecosystem service assessments is beginning to be realized as

early assessments presented a static picture in a rapidly changing world. The necessity of providing

counter-factuals is now being demanded of conservation research (Ferraro and Pattanayak 2006) and

should become the norm in ecosystem service research as well. The generation of scenarios is

particularly important for monetary valuation, since scenarios enable analysis of changes in service

delivery which are required to obtain marginal values. Making an analysis in incremental terms avoids

(or at least reduces) the methodological difficulties, which vary depending on the magnitude of the

changes. Such difficulties arise when attempting to estimate total values, related to the non-constancy


27

of marginal values associated with the complete loss of an ecosystem service. Such approaches are

also in general more relevant for decision-making in real-life circumstances.

In the TEEB context, comparing the outputs under several scenarios will inform decision makers of

the welfare gains and losses of alternative possible futures and different associated policy packages.

This is also important for non-monetary valuation changes, but more from a social understanding

aspect than for analytical robustness. For each scenario to be elaborated, we must analyze the likely

consequences of drivers that directly affect the status, current management and future trajectories of

ecosystems and biodiversity (and thus of the services and values they represent).

Indirect drivers of ecosystem change include demographic shifts, technology innovations, economic

development, legal and institutional frameworks, including policy instruments, the steady loss of

traditional knowledge and cultural diversity and many other factors that influence our collective

decisions (OECD 2003; MA 2005b; OECD 2008). These (indirect) drivers affect the way people

directly use and manage ecosystems and their services.

Direct drivers can be organized in negative, neutral and positive categories. Negative drivers include,

among others, habitat destruction, over-use of resources such as largely unrestrained overfishing of

the oceans of the world and pollution (leading among others to climate change). Examples of neutral

drivers would be land use change (which can have positive or negative consequences for ecosystems

and biodiversity, depending on the context and management regime). Increasing intensification and

industrialization of agriculture and animal husbandry should also be placed in a broader context:

intensification (provided it is done in a sustainable manner), can provide extra space for natural

habitat. Finally, positive drivers for enhancing natural capital would include ecosystem conservation

and restoration, development of sustainable management regimes and use of environmental-friendly

technologies, aimed at reducing human pressure on ecosystems and biodiversity (e.g. organic farming,

eco-tourism, renewable energy, etc). Clearly, even „positive drivers‟ can have negative impacts on

ecosystems and biodiversity, when applied in the wrong place or context, so the effects of any direct

driver on ecosystems need to be carefully analyzed through the TEEB framework.

3.6 Linking ecosystem service values to decision-making: the TEEB guidance reports

TEEB brings together state-of-the art research on assessing and valuing ecosystem services to help

policy makers, local authorities, companies and individuals in making decisions with respect to their

responsibilities in safeguarding biodiversity. Decision-makers at different organizational levels, both

public and private, affect drivers of ecosystem change such as demographic, economic, socio-

political, scientific and technological as well as cultural and religious drivers, which in turn affect

ecosystem services and human wellbeing. Building on a more refined valuation framework and

methodology that is more suitable for capturing economic values and policy-relevant information,


28

TEEB will develop specific guidance documents or “deliverables” addressing decision-making at

different levels in different contexts by different actors.

The first guidance document addresses policy makers (TEEB 2009). It explores the consequences of

international and national policies on biodiversity and ecosystems and presents a TEEB policy toolkit

for decision-makers at various governmental levels. By demonstrating the value attached to ecosystem

services and considering them in concrete policies, instruments and measures (e.g., subsidies and

incentives, environmental liability, market creation, national income accounting standards, trading

rules, reporting requirements, eco-labelling), it aims to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem protection

as a prerequisite for maintaining natural service levels.

Local administrators are addressed by the second TEEB deliverable. It incorporates values of

ecosystem services in location-specific, cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis, and their use in

methods and guidelines for implementing payments for ecosystem services, as well as equitable

access and benefit-sharing arrangements for genetic resources and protected areas.

The third TEEB deliverable focuses on the business end-user. It aims to provide a framework for

assessing the business impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems, both for measuring and managing

risks and identifying and grasping new market opportunities for private enterprises.

Last, but not least, individuals and consumer organizations are addressed by the fourth TEEB

deliverable. It covers how to reduce their impacts on wild nature while influencing producers through

private purchasing decisions. This will include steps to improve consumer information on the land,

water and energy resources used in producing foods and consumer goods.

i To avoid having to use both the terms ecosystems and biodiversity simultaneously all the time, the term

„ecosystem‟ is used to include „biodiversity‟ throughout the chapter unless indicated otherwise (see Glossary for

further explanation of these terms, and chapter 2 for a more in-depth discussion). ii All key terms used in TEEB are included in the Glossary, usually indicated in italics in the text.

iii Acknowledging that it is quite impossible to mention all who contributed to the development of the concept of

ecosystem services, some key authors and initiatives are listed in Annex 5 in the “Scoping the Science” report

by Balmford et al. (2008). iv Note that water purification is also listed as a regulating service in Appendix 2, in case the benefit is related to

waste treatment. As mentioned at the beginning of section 2.3 a fully unambiguous classification system

probably does not exist because the mix of ecosystem structure – process – function that provides the service

changes depending on the benefit pursued. v It should also be realized that many of these disservices are the result of bad planning or management and thus

often man-made. For example “normalizing” rivers (leading to floods), cutting forest on hill slopes (causing

erosion and landslides), and disturbing natural food webs (leading to outbreaks of pests). vi In this context the ecosystem can be seen as the „factory‟ providing (a bundle of) services. It is normal that, for

example, car factories include the costs of maintaining the machines and buildings in the price of the car but for


29

timber or fish coming from a forest or lake we usually exclude the maintenance costs of the natural capital

(stock) providing the service is usually excluded.


30

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Appendices

1. Classification of ecosystems used in TEEB

2. Ecosystem service classification: brief literature survey and TEEB classification

3. How the TEEB framework can be applied: the Amazon case


39

Appendix 1: Classification of ecosystems used in TEEB

LEVEL 1 (Biomes) LEVEL 2 (ecosystems)

1 Marine / Open ocean 1.0 Marine / Open ocean

1.1 Open ocean

1.2 Coral reefs (*, (#

2 Coastal systems 2.0 Coastal systems (excluding wetlands)

2.1 - Seagrass/algae beds

2.2 - Shelf sea

2.3 - Estuaries

2.3 - Shores (rocky & beaches)

3 Wetlands 3.0 Wetlands – general (coastal & inland)

(coastal wetlands)

3.1 - Tidal Marsh (coastal wetlands)

3.2 - Mangroves (#

(Inland wetlands)

3.3 - Floodplains (incl. swamps/marsh)

3.4 - Peat-wetlands (bogs, fens, etc.)

4 Lakes/Rivers 4.0 Lakes/Rivers

4.1 - Lakes

4.2 - Rivers

5 Forests 5.0 Forests – all

(Tropical Forest)

5.1 - Tropical rain forest (#

5.2 - Tropical dry forest

(Temperate forests)

5.3 - Temperate rain/Evergreen

5.4 - Temperate deciduous forests

5.5 - Boreal/Coniferous forest

6 Woodland & shrubland 6.0 Woodland & shrubland (“dryland”)

6.1 - Heathland

6.2 - Mediterranean scrub

6.3 - Various scrubland

7 Grass/Rangeland 7.0 Grass/Rangeland

7.1 - Savanna etc

8 Desert 8.0 Desert

8.1 - Semi-desert

8.2 - True desert (sand/rock)

9 Tundra 9.0 Tundra

10 Ice/Rock/Polar 10.0 Ice/Rock/Polar

11 Cultivated 11.0 Cultivated

11.1 Cropland (arable land, pastures, etc.)

11.2 Plantations / orchards / agro-forestry, etc.

11.3 Aquaculture / rice paddies, etc.

12 Urban 12.0 Urban

Source: Based on mix of classifications, mainly MA (2005a) and Costanza et al. (1997) which in turn are based

on classifications from US Geol. Survey, IUCN, WWF, UNEP and FAO.

*) usually placed under “coastal” but it is proposed to put this under “marine”.

#) These three ecosystems are dealt with separately in the monetary valuation (chapter 7).


40

Appendix 2: Ecosystem service classification: brief literature survey and

TEEB classification

Various sources (1 Millennium Ecosystem

Assessment (2005a) Daily et al. (2008) TEEB classification

PROVISIONING PROVISIONING PROVISIONING

Food (fish, game, fruit) Food Seafood, game 1 Food

Water availability [RS] (2 Fresh water 2 Water (2

Raw materials (e.g. wood) Fibre Timber, fibers

3

Raw materials Fuel & energy (fuel-wood,

organic matter, etc.) ,, ? Biomass fuels

Fodder & fertilizer ,, ? Forage

Useful genetic material, Genetic resources - industrial products 4 Genetic resources

Drugs & pharmaceutical Biochemicals Pharmaceuticals 5 Medicinal resources

Models & test organisms - ? - industrial products

Resources for fashion,

handicraft, decorative, etc. Ornamental resources - ? 6 Ornamental resources

REGULATING REGULATING REGULATING

Gas regulation/air quality Air quality regulation Air purification 7 Air purification

Favorable climate

(incl. C-sequestration) Climate regulation Climate stabilization 8

Climate regulation (incl.

C-sequestration)

Storm protection - ? Moder. of extremes 9

Disturbance prevention or

moderation Flood prevention Water regulation Flood mitigation

Drainage & natural

irrigation (drought prevent.) „‟ Drought mitigation 10 Regulation of water flows

Clean water (waste

treatment) „‟ Water purification 11

Waste treatment (esp.

water purification)

Erosion prevention Erosion regulation Erosion protection 12 Erosion prevention

Maintenance of productive

and “clean” soils

Soil formation

[supporting service]

Soil generation and

preservation 13 Maintaining soil fertility

Pollination Pollination Pollination 14 Pollination

(biol. control) Seed dispersal

15 Biological control Pest & disease control Pest regulation Pest control

Human disease regulat.

HABITAT/SUPPORT SUPPORTING (3 HABITAT

Nursery-service e.g. Photosynthesis,

primary production,

nutrient cycling

16 Lifecycle maintenance

Maintenance of biodiversity Maintenance of

biodiversity 17 Gene pool protection

CULTURAL (& Amenit.) CULTURAL CULTURAL & Amenity

Appreciated scenery

(incl. tranquility) Aesthetic values Aesthetic beauty 18 Aesthetic information

Recreation & tourism Recreat. & eco-tourism 19 Recreation & tourism

Inspiration for art etc. - ? 20

Inspiration for culture, art

and design Cultural heritage Cultural diversity

Spiritual & religious use Spirit. & religious val. 21 Spiritual experience

Use in science & education Knowledge systems

Educational values

Intellectual

stimulation 22

Information for cognitive

development

1) Mainly based on/adapted from Costanza et al. (1997) and De Groot et al. (2002).

2) Water is often placed under Regulating Services [RS] but in TEEB the consumptive use of water is

placed under provisioning services.

3) Daily et al. (2008) do not use main categories and also included detoxification and decomposition of

waste, nutrient cycling, and UVb-protection as services.

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